Thank Goodness Christmas is over!

i never really enjoy the holidays but this year has been the worst christmas ever. wont get into the the reasons why but it just wasn't fun with what seemed to be the weight of the world on my shoulders.

I am looking forward to this new year! i have hope that i will be able to correct my wrongs and forgiveness will be forth coming and we can get back to the business of living instead of this miserable existence.

i am reading a new zombie book, so far i'm digging it! I will do a review of sorts when i'm done.

got our first real snow today, yesterday was a green christmas, it really didn't feel like christmas not sure if it was the lack of snow or the other junk?

i hope and pray that everyone enjoyed their christmas, and that it was peaceful and drama free

jake

This is something I wrote a couple years ago and some of you may have read this, I have added a bit to it this year so there are some changes, for those of you who have not read this before I pray that it makes you take pause and consider your life, your destiny and your eternity.

Mary Christmas!

I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a Mary Christmas.

Yes I know it should be Merry Christmas. I was thinking that it might be a good time to acknowledge the Virgin Mary in this quick note.

So we all know that the reason for the season is of course Jesus Christ. But I think there is value in taking a quick look at Mary this Christmas season.

I think we should honor Mary for a number of reasons such as her character and integrity. The angel said to her that she was highly favored by God when he announced to her that she was to conceive the savior of the world. How can one be highly favored by a perfect and Holy God with out having an excellent character. It makes me ponder what kind of person one must be to be highly favored by God and for God to have that kind of confidence in them to raise his son and usher in the new covenant that has the potential to reconcile all mankind back to God?

This virgin birth is one of the cornerstones to our faith, there are many prophecies concerning the messiah but the virgin birth has to be one of the big ones. Indeed this is one of the main things that set Jesus apart from other religious figures of other faiths, Buddha, Mohammed, nor could Krishna make the claim to be the son of God. It was Christ’s divinity that allowed him to be the savior of the world, and it was the virgin birth that fulfilled what was written by the prophet Isaiah so many hundreds of years before.

Isa 7:14

14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

NKJV

For those of you who aren’t aware the name Immanuel when translated means “God with us” and that is the beauty of our faith, our God clothed himself in flesh and came to save us!

And to my friends that scoff at the concept of the virgin birth, from our view, our God is the creator of everything and as the author of life the virgin birth was indeed miraculous but ultimately not out of Gods ability, and to my friends who scoff at the virgin birth and have chosen evolution as your religion since you believe and profess that life came from nothing, the virgin birth should come as no surprise.


Would Mary have perpetrated this ruse if it wasn't true? In her time and culture being pregnant out of wed lock could have been her death if Joseph had chosen. She could have claimed rape or some other claim but she didn't she clung to the promise of God in her life and his protection and provision. She accepted the call on her life despite the inherent risk to herself while so many turn their backs on God when he calls them into a soul saving relationship with him.

Another thing to contemplate about her character is her faith! She didn’t doubt that God was going to do what he said he was going to do. She did ask the angel how it was all going to happen though. But keep in mind that she was asking the how; not doubting. God doesn’t mind you asking about logistics he does mind doubt though.

God trusted her to raise his son as her son, to train him in all ways. What an honor but not with out its risks. In that day and age to be pregnant without being married was punishable by stoning. The fact was she had the faith in God to risk being killed showed her devotion to God.

She not only saw the beauty and wonderment of the life that sprang forth from her body and all the miracles that Jesus would do, but she was there as a faithful witness to the mutilation and final death of her son. I think sometimes we forget the human trauma she suffered while witnessing all of these things because we get wrapped up in the “theology” of the season. Can you imagine watching your son being killed in front of you?

 Mary watched, that’s what she did. She watched the savior take his first steps, she watched as he played, she watched as he became a man, she watched as he learned his earthly fathers’ trade, she watched as he turned water into wine, she watched demons departed at his voice, and people healed just by touching his clothes. But this isn’t all she observed. She watched as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the cheering of the multitude, she also watched that multitude turn on her son and chant for his crucifixion, she watched the religious leaders beat her son and pull his beard, she watched roman soldiers flog her son till his insides were exposed, and she watched them nail her son, her baby to a cross, she watched as he gave his last breath, she watched as they stabbed him with a spear to see if he was dead, she watched as the centurion that carried out the murder of her son changed his mind and decided that her son was the son of God, she watched as they took his body down from the cross, she watched as they laid him in a tomb. Can you imagine witnessing the destruction of your child?

But there were other things she witnessed, she was there when he had risen and appeared to them, she was there when he ascended to heaven to receive his kingdom, and she was there on the day of Pentecost when the church was born in fulfillment of her sons’ life work.

To really think about it, it’s all too much to bear! What a strong woman, strong in character and strong in faith. I don’t think we should worship Mary as some do, but we should be willing to look at her life and find an excellent example and encouragement.

As we look to this New Year I pray that we all may have a Mary heart, be submitted to God, and willing to watch what he does in our lives!

jake

I finished up Victoria Adams book entitled "Who I Am Yesterday"

A beautiful and heart wrenching tale of love, commitment and grief. Victoria Adams delves deep into her own pain as she recounts her husband’s decent into dementia. She also covers some of the basics for people who might be thrust into this new season of life of a loved one as she shares some of her hard won wisdom. A true account of love unconditional……….

jake 

http://www.amazon.com/Who-I-Am-Yesterday-ebook/dp/B008FHUI20/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356220362&sr=8-2&keywords=who+i+am+yesterday 

not able to get a pic of the cover sorry 

I had the pleasure of reading "The Reawakening" by Joseph Souza, this is what i posted on amazon and good read for it. 

They say you are what you eat, but what if what you eat starts mutating because of scientist wanted to play God? If you’re having trouble imagining the fallout Souza lays it out for you! It has everything you need, science, zombies, guns, and characters trying to come to grips with the world crumbling around them! 

it was really good i enjoyed it. the zombie genre is somewhat limiting and i appreciate it when an author is able to come up with another way of approaching it. 

jake

http://www.amazon.com/Reawakening-Living-Dead-Series-ebook/dp/B009MHDN7Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356193941&sr=8-2&keywords=joseph+souza

Internet has been down, finally got it up and running today!

winter has officially arrived! blustery cold today, i dont mind snow that much although i could live without it, i dont even mind the cold that much, but that wind blowing down from lake michigan is COLD!!!

i love the lake and we only live about 35 miles from it, but the down side is the weather from it.

been working as much as i can, physically i've really had a hard time lately so sitting at the desk was just not an option

I am up to around 20K words on soul whispers but i've run into a problem not a big one but got to get something figured out before i can continue, i am finding that being this organized before writing has really helped tho, i'm happy with my progress! just things didn't work out quite like i had planned.

Kids are out for christmas break so no more getting up at 6am!! for a while YAY!!!! but then again they are home too................

hopefully later i will get a review done for a book i read and post it here, amazon, and good reads at least. got to help my Indie brethren.

jake

so i just havent accomplished much the last 3-4 days, been feeling blah and busy. i'm ok with this i have no dead lines, also dealing with a proposed chapter that just isnt gelling like i thought it would and trying to decide if i should just delete it completely or shrink it down and add the info which isnt all that important into another chapter and be done with is.

as most everyone knows yesterday some douche bag in CT. walked into a school and shot a bunch of little kids. its quite the buzz on facebook. its a very sad state of affairs indeed.

i've seen posts by the same people who are fighting to kick god out of every place now get upset with him because he didnt stop this..... just a bit hypocritical isnt it? certain people decided God shouldnt be allowed in our schools how can he swoop in and save?

i think in this time of year we would do better turning to God instead of blaming him........

I think Mr. Ceelo Green puts it best in this video

its thursday.

so today is 12.13.12 i am still dealing with the let down of the magical date not bring the zombie apocalypse!

i dont know if i should get excited about the mayan calender thing or not. there is a very good debate of the inaccuracy of the date because the mayans didnt have leap year........... so prolly gonna be a bust.

havent gotten much done the last couple of days....... its ok life happens!

i am hoping to get some stuff done today but so far looks to be a bust. i did get a very small bit of editing done on Krokodil tho so i'm thrilled about that I hate editing once the story is told i want nothing to do with it....... does that make me a "one night stand writer?" or a "slam bang thank you ma'am" writer?

tonight seems like fighting with the kids is the order of the day. as all of you parents know there are days when you cant get them to do anything.......... this last week has been that day, only now momma is off work and i got back up.... i told them "get your messes cleaned up before mom gets off work and sees them"

they should totally listen to dad!

in other news this lil blog without too much pushing had 925 page views last i looked. thank you to everyone who has stopped in.

i still need to sit down and actually read some blogs and get some ideas for content, i really wasnt prepared when i started it. i was talking with an author friend and she was rattling off all these things to do and i jumped on it.......

twitter is growing nicely over 1900 followers now, i still dont get twitter really. meet some really nice people on there tho but most of it is people who just posts ads non stop without much interaction. i dont like that, i want to try and get to know everyone........ silly i know and not realistic

OK i've rambled take care my friends!

jake